Interview: Photographer Marcin Sokołowski – maarew (Poland)

Can you tell us a little about you?

I was born and grew up in Bialystok, Poland. This area has been multicultural for a few hundred years as there live people of Polish, Belarussian, Lituanian and even Tatars roots and this history "infected" my mind :) Now I live and work in Warsaw, a place full of different people from all over Poland and the world. And I like that. My other passions are diving and travelling. I prefer fine art, nude and portrait photography, but also like landscape and street photography.

How and when did you get into photography?

I was always interested in pictures, photos telling some stories, fantasy art, but I didn't take photos myself. It changes as my son was born and I wanted to document how he grew up. I bought a camera and my sister gave me some books about photography. And so it started :)

What does photography mean to you?

On the one hand I can create pictures which I could not paint or draw. On the other hand it lets me see the world more like children do - I look for and see beautiful and interesting things in everyday life. Today's life is rather fast and photography lets me stop for a moment and value the world around me.

Please briefly describe your photography style for our readers.

I'm not sure if I have one style, I like both bw and color photography and to try different things. So, maybe freestyle, that's me ;)

Where do you get inspiration from?

Books, songs, paintings, movies, photographs, the world around me. Stories people tell since people exist.

Do you think in advance what you want in the picture?

I have rather a general idea not an exact picture. And on the location this idea changes sometimes into a different one :)

Studio, on location or both?

I prefer location, it often gives me new ideas, but also studio from time to time.

Would you consider yourself a hobbyist or a paid professional?

I'm a hobbyist, I earn money as an heir tracer and genealogist - history "infected" my as I told :)

What has been your most memorable session and why?

I don't have such one session, most sessions I did were worth remembering as I met interesting and creative people. Once I took a photo of a bridge in Warsaw, it was hidden in the fog and I found it beautiful. With some doubts I decided to send this photo to National Geographic Photo Competitions and... this photo was awarded. That was the first time I thought that hmmm... maybe my photo can be liked not by my family members only :)

Nikon or Canon? Favorite lens?

I started my photo-journey with Nikon and stayed by it. I often use 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 24-70mm 2.8 but have also good experiences with 70-300mm 4.5-5.6. And I like to take photos with my mobile phone too, it's always by me and I took some good street or landscape photos with it.

What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a new photographer looking to start their own business?

Photography is my passion, but not my job, so I'm rather not the right one to give such advice. I can say that do it with passion, prepare for hard work, learn from loss and... do not give up.

What do you think of our new magazine?

I like it, it's a very interesting place where you can find different types of artistic creativity. Most interesting for me is photography of course :) I think it's great that it's a place where people could present their works and how they see the world around us.

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